Making Lemonade out of Lemons… red wolf pup style

Nope, no pups here, but it’s the time of year when red wolves have pups. For the most part, every red wolf is born in April or May (I believe there have been three litters in the past 30+ years born the very last week in March).

Several of our partner institutions in the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan have had pups. North Carolina Zoo, Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, and Rowan Wildlife Adventures, just to name a few. Even though we are all closed, we’re still working hard behind the scenes to keep this critically endangered species on the planet. (Click here to see a complete list of facilities that house red wolves and work together to save them).

So here’s where we get to the making something good come from the bad. (Kind of like how we’re living every day in the Covid-19 Pandemic). A litter of red wolf pups was born at Riding Reflection in Tennessee. This was a first time mom, and it is not uncommon to have issues with pups and first time moms. Only one of the pups survived. It just so happened that the surviving pup was born very close to the time the pups at Rowan Wildlife Adventures were born. This allowed for a cross-fostering to occur.

So, staff from Riding Reflection and Rowan Wildlife Adventures, and the Red Wolf SSP Coordinator, quickly took care of permitting and logistics, and got the solo pup over to her new family in NC.

Here’s the threesome curled up their first day togetherclose up shot of the trio when first put together.

The trio at Rowan continue to do well, and while not out of the woods yet, have started to waddle around a bit at just about 4-weeks old.

3 weeks oldThis picture is from last Wednesday, May 13. Four week old pups are one of my most favorite pup ages.

Ellerbe and Eno are doing fine here at the Museum. Additionally, the rest of the family we sent to Mill Mountain Zoo in January continue to do well, so that’s really nice to know.

By May 28, all red wolf pups will be born. I’ll get an update this summer when the Red Wolf SSP Management group gets together. Although not in person, it will be nice to see my partners in little boxes on a computer screen!